Driving the Wedge
by ladybugbirdie42
Summary: It was strange, really, how a few simple words could be so much more. How a careless comment could set off a chain of events that could turn your world upside down. If he had known what a mess such a seemingly innocent statement would get him into, he surely would've held his tongue. But he couldn't have known at the time. And in life there are no take backs.
1. Chapter 1

It was strange, really, how a few simple words could be so much more. How a careless comment could set off a chain of events that could turn your world upside down. If he had known what a mess such a seemingly innocent statement would get him into, he surely would've held his tongue. But he couldn't have known at the time. And in life there are no take backs.

And so, tired after a long day of menial chores and dealing with his insane master's capricious moods, Lithuania set off in search of his two younger brothers.

He found them in the kitchen, sitting at the table, Latvia with a half-drunk bottle of vodka, Estonia simply sitting nearby to keep him company.

Sighing he stepped into the room, immediately drawing the attention of his two younger brothers. "Latvia, I really wish you wouldn't drink so much."

And with just those few, innocent words, everything fell apart.

"What would you know?!" The unexpected shout sliced through the tense air of the room, causing Lithuania to stumble backwards a bit as the youngest abruptly stood up, wobbling slightly, hands clenched into fists at his sides, a look of pure hatred in his eyes – a look that the brunette had never expected to be aimed at himself.

"You wouldn't understand!" Latvia continued, brushing off Estonia's attempts to quiet him. "You don't know what it's like! Russia never hurts _you_ because you're _perfect_! You say you understand how it feels, but you don't! If you did, then you'd understand why I drink… This is all I have… But I guess you don't care about that. You pretend to care about us, but all you really care about is sucking up to Russia!"

"Raivis, that's not true – "

"Don't give me that! I've seen you go off with Russia and disappear for hours on end! You pretend to suffer with us when really you're probably off drinking tea with Russia and laughing at our misery!"

"Latvia!" Estonia finally managed to cut in with a sharp reprimand, effectively shutting the boy up, but it was too late. The damage had already been done. When he looked up to apologize, Lithuania was already gone.

* * *

" _Russia never hurts you because you're_ perfect _!"_

Latvia's words – that sentence in particular – rang throughout Lithuania's mind as he shoved open the kitchen door and ran down the hall, desperately trying to escape the youngest's words, his hatred.

' _Oh, Raivis, if only you knew how wrong you are…"_

And then, as if to prove his point, he ran straight into Russia himself.

He stumbled backwards quickly, putting as much distance between himself and his master as he could without making it look like he was trying to run away. He could see the amusement lighting up Russia's eyes.

"Are you crying, Litva?" he asked teasingly. "I haven't even done anything to you yet."

Lithuania didn't reply, slightly scowling down at the floor as he scrubbed at his eyes in an attempt to erase any signs of tears. He could hear a soft chuckle escape Russia's lips.

"Seems there's dissension among my little Baltics~," he hummed in an all-too-cheerful voice.

Lithuania glanced up at him warily and caught a glint of something darker underneath the amusement – something almost predatory. Past experience taught him that he wasn't going to like wherever this was going.

"You heard?" he asked cautiously, and he swore he saw Russia's smile widen slightly.

"It'd have been a little hard not to." He gave Lithuania a fake pitying smile. "I guess little Lithuania's friends don't like him after all. How sad."

"T-that's not – I –" He sighed, giving up. There wasn't any point in trying to argue. He'd lose anyway. He just wanted to get this over with. "What do you want?" he asked helplessly.

"Pack your things. You're moving out."

Lithuania was taken aback. "I-I'm what?"

"I'm separating you from the other two. From now on you'll be staying in the room across from mine," came the simple reply.

"But, why? And so suddenly, too…" Russia had been the one who had forced the three of them to become so close in the first place. The Baltics really didn't have anything in common. They hadn't chosen to be friends, but with Russia making them share one tiny room with one small bed and with no one else to go to for comfort but each other they really hadn't had much choice but to get along. And now Russia was trying to separate them. It didn't make any sense. But then again, neither did much of anything Russia did.

"It's not sudden," Russia replied matter-of-factly. "I've been trying to separate you from the other two for awhile now, trying to find a way to make the others distrust you, to hate you, so that I could take you away from them without them rebelling to get you back.

"But it seemed little Latvia and Estonia trusted and loved you too much. I realized I'd have to sow distrust among the other two, but I couldn't figure out exactly how to do it. Turns out I didn't have to do anything. Little Latvia did my job for me. I guess you three aren't as close as I had thought."

"And if I refuse to play your game?" Lithuania asked. He wasn't entirely sure yet why Russia was so adamant about trying to separate him from his brothers, but he doubted it was good.

Russia's smile turned into the pout of a disappointed child's, as if he just couldn't understand why his little Litva didn't want to play along. But soon enough the grin was back, eyes glinting malevolently.

"You know what happens when you disobey me, da?"

Lithuania cringed inwardly. Yes. He did. All too well.

But he couldn't back down. His brothers were all he had in this cursed wasteland, and he couldn't give them up. And, if he were being honest, the thought of being alone with Russia even more often than he used to be was terrifying.

"I don't care! Do whatever you want! I'm not playing."

The corner of Russia's mouth twitched slightly in amusement. He took a step forward, and Lithuania instinctually took a step backwards.

' _He's enjoying this!'_ The thought flashed through Lithuania's horrified mind, and he knew in that moment that he was going to lose.

Sure enough, Russia's next words killed any more possible protests on Lithuania's part.

"It'd be a shame if anything happened to your brothers, wouldn't it?" The words were spoken softly but with a menacing edge that didn't match his cheerful smile at all.

Lithuania hung his head, shoulders slumping as he numbly shook his head 'no', signaling that he had given in.

Russia clapped his hands together like an excited child. "Excellent! You know what you have to do."

* * *

 **A/N: I can't make any promises about updates, so I won't. I do have the second chapter written, so I can guarantee that that'll probably be posted next week, but I can't make any promises for after that. Life has a horrible tendency of getting in the way. I will try to stay sort of on top of updates, though. Please review so I know if this is worth continuing.**


	2. Chapter 2

Estonia pushed open the door to the Baltics' bedroom with an exhausted sigh. Latvia was passed out on his back, having consumed too much alcohol.

After what had happened, Estonia had been tempted to take a couple shots himself, but the next day was already going to be a headache with one of them hung-over.

He had considered going after Lithuania, but he hadn't been entirely sure where to look or what to say, and someone needed to watch Latvia. Besides, the one who needed to apologize was Latvia, and he would make sure he did when he woke up, and then this would blow over and everything would be back to normal.

Except that when he opened the door, he was greeted with the sight of Lithuania packing all his belongings into a bag. Not that any of them had much, but that was beside the point.

"What are you doing?" Estonia asked, laying Latvia on their shared bed.

"I'm moving out. Getting my own room." His replies were clipped, like he was trying to restrain himself.

Estonia was confused. "Why?" It wasn't as if he could just choose to stay in a different room whether he liked it or not. Unless Russia had ordered it. But if that were the case, Estonia was only more curious.

Lithuania shrugged, not even looking at him as he closed the bag and picked it up. "Latvia was right."

Estonia's frown deepened. This…didn't make any sense. And Lithuania was acting weird. "I don't understand."

"Latvia was right," he said again. "I'm not the same as you two. I've been tricking you into thinking I was just one of Russia's servants like you two so that I could keep you under control. But since you know now, there's no point in me playing servant any longer."

Lithuania still wasn't looking at him, and he could see how tense he was. He looked really uncomfortable, like he just wanted to run out of the room that moment.

"Did Russia put you up to this?"

He swore he saw Lithuania flinch slightly.

Lithuania finally met his gaze with a rarely seen seriousness. "I made my own choice." With that, he turned away and walked towards the door.

"I don't believe you," Estonia called to his turned back.

Lithuania paused, hand tightly grasping the doorknob. His grip loosened slightly, and he let out a short, mirthless laugh. He turned to look at Estonia again. His eyes were cold, lacking the warmth Estonia was used to seeing.

"Don't be a fool, Estonia. You're letting your emotions blind you." He opened the door, but just as he was stepping out he threw out one last insult. "I thought you were smarter than that."

And then he was gone.

* * *

Lithuania had just finished putting his few pairs of clothes into one of the drawers when Russia barged into his new room.

"How'd it go?" He sounded almost… excited?

Despite himself, Lithuania couldn't help but wonder if these twisted games were Russia's only way of entertaining himself and that if they could somehow find some other, less painful way to keep him entertained, then maybe he'd stop forcing them to play these games.

He vaguely entertained the idea of offering to play card games or something with Russia instead of doing _this_ , but he had a feeling Russia wouldn't go for it, and he was almost certain Russia would find a way to ruin card games.

So he sighed, resigned to his fate, though he still had one faint hope left.

"I don't think Estonia bought it. I'm telling you, this isn't going to work."

But of course, (as he had more-or-less expected) that wasn't nearly enough to convince Russia to give up. "Nonsense! _You_ just need to try harder."

"Well, what exactly do you want me to do about it?" Lithuania was extremely thankful that Russia was in such an unusually good mood. Any other time, speaking to him like that would've gotten him in big trouble.

But he really wasn't in the mood to be polite. He was tired and wanted this entire thing to be over even though it really hadn't even begun yet. Usually it was just him playing Russia's games, but this time everyone was playing along, and he hated having to lie to his brothers. And for what? Russia's amusement?

"Don't worry about it! We'll figure it out later. For now, just try and get some sleep, da?"

Lithuania nodded, and, satisfied, Russia left.

But Lithuania did worry. Russia hadn't seemed bothered at all by the fact that Estonia wasn't playing along with his little game. In fact, he had seemed rather happy about it, which implied that he knew exactly what they were going to do to change that.

And that did worry him. Russia had ways of forcing people to play along, and they were never pleasant.

* * *

Latvia awoke the next morning with a splitting headache, but it didn't take long to realize that that wasn't the only thing that was wrong that morning.

"Estonia!" he whispered insistently, knowing from experience how much pain came from loud noises when he had a hangover. He reached over, desperately trying to wake the older boy. His head felt like it was exploding, but he tried to ignore it. This was more important.

"Where's Lithuania?" he asked desperately, though his voice was still hushed. He hoped that Toris had just gotten up early, but one glance at Estonia's face told him otherwise.

Estonia sighed, sitting up. "He's gone, Latvia," he answered, also keeping his voice low.

"Wh-what?"

"I don't know if you remember, but last night you said some things to him, and… well, it turns out you were right."

"I-I don't…" His eyes widened, remembering the event Estonia had mentioned. "But-but… I didn't…" His shoulders slumped. "I didn't mean it…"

"He's betrayed us, Latvia." Part of him thought that there was something odd about the whole situation, but until he found out what, this was all he really knew – that Lithuania had chosen Russia over them. At least, that's what Lithuania claimed… Maybe he had been right. Maybe Estonia _was_ letting his emotions keep him from seeing the truth.

"H-he wouldn't…" Estonia looked away, and Latvia could feel tears prick at the corners of his eyes. He'd thought Lithuania had cared for them.

' _How could he –?'_

* * *

 **A/N: Hopefully with this chapter things make more sense (if they didn't before). If anyone's confused by Estonia, I don't know what to tell you; I am too. Also, I know nothing about hangovers.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is way overdue, and I'd like to say I'll be better with the next chapter, but I'd rather not make promises I probably won't keep. Most of this is filler, though the ending is kind of a set up for next chapter. Also, I avoided proofreading it because I figured if I read it, I'd decide it was terrible, erase it all, and then never get anything done again. So please have mercy on me.**

* * *

Somehow Estonia managed to get both of them dressed and downstairs to the kitchen. Between the hangover and news about Lithuania, it was nearly impossible to convince Latvia to do _anything_ let alone get out of bed so they could start their "chores".

At the moment, he was trying to coax Latvia into drinking some water. He knew that drinking a lot of water with alcohol helped keep hangovers from being as bad. How effective that trick was after the fact he didn't know. But they already had a long day ahead of them, and with one person short, they didn't have time to deal with a hangover.

* * *

They were separated, their assigned chores keeping them in different parts of the house. It was like that sometimes, though Estonia and Latvia's jobs usually had a little more overlap with Lithuania mostly being to odd one out doing chores alone on the other side of the house.

It put Estonia on edge. Being alone in this house was something he preferred to avoid. It made one vulnerable, or, at least, it felt that way. The truth, he knew, was that there was no such thing as safety whether alone or not. That didn't keep him from being more anxious now that he was alone, though.

He somehow managed to get through the day without any run-ins with Russia, which he was thankful for, but he couldn't help but worry that that meant Latvia had had to deal with Russia on his own.

He also didn't see any sign of Lithuania for the whole morning, but while he was cleaning windows that afternoon, he found him staring out of one of the second floor windows that overlooked the front yard of the estate. His eyes were fixed on some unknown point in the distance, staring at what, Estonia couldn't imagine.

"Um," Estonia tried, at a loss at what else to say. He saw Lithuania jump slightly, as if suddenly jerked from a dream, startling an unbidden apology out of Estonia.

He mentally cringed, chastising himself. What was he apologizing for? He hadn't done anything wrong. And besides, he was supposed to be angry at Lithuania. Wasn't he?

But, for a second, in the reflection of the window, he'd thought he'd seen fear in Lithuania's eyes…

"What were you looking at?" Estonia cringed again. What was he _doing_?

Lithuania seemed just as surprised by Estonia's attempt to engage in conversation. He turned back to the window. "It's almost winter," he said, voice growing despondent.

This was true. All the plants had already withered and died under the frost. The gate was already beginning to freeze shut in the icy mornings. Soon it would be all the way frozen until spring.

"Yes, it is," he found himself agreeing, more because he wasn't sure what else to do than anything else. When he realized Lithuania's focus was once again fixed outside the window, he made another attempt at getting his attention. "Um." Lithuania glanced his way, lips turning down into a slight frown. "I need to clean the window."

Lithuania's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and he glanced from Estonia to the window, then back again before uttering a quiet, "Oh." Then came the automatic "I'm sorry".

It was strange. This was a lot different than last night, and certainly a lot different from how Estonia had imagined it'd be. If it wasn't for the awkwardness and unnatural fumbling for words to say, it almost would have been like nothing had changed.

But really, had much changed in the end? They were all still stuck here, weren't they? Russia was still the head of the household. And it wasn't like Lithuania was just suddenly going to turn into another Russia. Estonia didn't think he had it in him. In the end, the three of them were still powerless, weren't they?

He thought about that as he wiped down the window that Lithuania had vacated. Lithuania had disappeared somewhere; he wasn't sure where. Not that it really mattered, though.

He paused, looking out the window and trying to guess what it was that had caught Lithuania's attention. There wasn't anything there. The land was practically dead.

* * *

He hadn't really thought about it at lunch, mostly because he'd been preoccupied with a million other worries and because lunch had just been the borscht he had prepared the day before.

But when dinner came around, it hit him like a ton of bricks. He was the one who usually did the cooking. And while Estonia and Latvia weren't the worst cooks he knew (they could out cook England, America, or Poland any day), they just didn't know their way around a kitchen the way he did.

That, and he really preferred Latvia stay out of the kitchen altogether. Though, if he was right, it looked like Estonia felt the same way because judging by the presentation and the taste, he was pretty sure Estonia had made the dish.

The dish was far from being inedible, and granted, Russia hadn't complained about it (though he couldn't help but think it was just due to his incredibly good mood), but that didn't stop his brain from creating a thousand different disastrous scenarios in response to his realization.

He's in a good mood now, so he doesn't mind, but what if, once his good mood wears off, he decides the food isn't good enough?

So far Estonia had stuck with traditional Russian cuisine, but did he know how Russia would react if he made a dish from his home country, if he made a western dish?

Did he know Russia's favorite dishes? The ones he hated?

How many Russian dishes did he know how to make? Was it only just this? Would he run out of recipes?

This wouldn't be a problem if Russia would just let him continue handling the cooking, but—

"Cooking is a servant's job, and as far as they are considered, you are not a servant. There's no reason you would be cooking."

"Maybe I enjoy cooking. And it's not just a job for servants. I did all the cooking back when I lived with Poland."

Bad move. The smile had all but disappeared with the mention of Poland.

"Well, you're not living with Poland anymore, are you?" The smile had been replaced with a cold smirk, almost a sneer. "And you say that, but weren't you really just a glorified servant? You always claim you were equals, but from what I remember you only ever did whatever he told you to."

"That's—!" He had to cut himself off. Nothing good would come of continuing this. And as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't really deny what Russia had said.

He was powerless to defend Poland's actions when it was put like that. In the end, all he could do was sit helplessly by as Russia dismantled every friendship he'd ever had. Or thought he'd had, because if Russia was right, then…


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: And after an eternity, we are back! Whoo!**

* * *

He wasn't an artist by any means. Nor did he consider himself particularly creative. But he'd been around long enough to pick up a few things.

Tea staining wasn't anything he had tried before, but it wasn't too hard to figure out based off what he has heard. Then came crumpling up and smoothing out the sheets of paper. Then tearing a few edges here and there.

Deciding (or perhaps hoping) that was good enough, he turned to a more familiar subject.

And may have gotten a little carried away in the end, but the task was done.

* * *

Estonia found it pressed up against the back of the cabinet where the pots and pans were stored.

' _Has this always been here?'_

It had to have been there a while. The pages were worn and yellow with age.

Perhaps against his better judgment, he flipped through the book. He had never been one to pass up a book without at least seeing what it was about, and this one had nothing written on the cover to suggest its contents. It was obviously handmade, unlike the novels that filled the library.

That was…Lithuania's handwriting? It had to be.

It looked like a cookbook. It was a collection of various recipes complete with scattered tips added in, not just for cooking, but also for dealing with Russia. Reminders for himself, probably, as every new lesson was learned over years of experience.

It had to have been written sometime when he was here because all the recipes were Russian. He didn't want to think about how long ago it may have been written. How long had they been trapped in this forsaken house? Not just this time around but since the first time.

"What's this?"

He froze as the book was lifted out of his hands. He hadn't even heard him come in.

He spun around to face Russia who looked a mixture of curious and thoughtful as he flipped through the book.

"Hm. So that's what he did."

Russia's expression was hard to read as he stared at something in the very back of the book for a few minutes. It was almost as if he couldn't quite decide how to feel. Then, finally, his expression turned to one of clear amusement, and he laughed softly to himself.

Estonia had no idea what was going on, nor did he really care to know. But he had no other choice than to wait patiently until Russia either addressed him or left the room.

Finally, Russia took out the page that had been tucked in the back of the book—the only page that hadn't been bound along with the rest—and handed it to Estonia. It had a crease in the middle, showing that it had been folded originally.

"Make this for dinner, please."

He couldn't decipher the meaning behind Russia's smile, but that didn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine.

* * *

Things had been going well up until dinner. For him, at least.

But of course, nothing ever stays well in this place for long.

He recognized the smell the moment Estonia had entered Russia's room, and instantly panic seized him.

 _What went wrong? Didn't he read the warnings I left for him?_

He made sure not to look at Estonia because he didn't trust himself not to let his panic show on his face.

Despite the situation, though, he couldn't help feeling a small spark of happiness when Estonia set the plate of steaming cepelinai down in front of him. It looked so good. He'd missed it so much.

Quickly sobering, he shot a glance towards Russia, trying to gauge his reaction.

Russia was smiling.

Lithuania felt his stomach knot. _That could mean anything!_

"Thank you, Estonia," Russia said sweetly.

"I asked him to make it," Russia informed him once Estonia was gone.

Lithuania looked at him in confusion, wary of where this was going.

"It isn't strange to request a dish that my _dear friend_ loves so much, is it?" That was the rationale for why the request didn't go against Russia's rules about non-Russian food, but somehow Lithuania found it hard to believe that Russia had made the request out of kindness.

"It's funny. You wrote in your little book to only cook Russian dishes, but then you included one of your traditional dishes. Why is that, Litva?" His smile became more dangerous. "You aren't defying me, are you?"

There really was no other answer, was there? There was really no good reason for including the cepelinai recipe. If anything, it had been an added risk. By including the recipe, he had run the risk of Estonia accidentally making the dish, thus destroying the entire point of him making the book in the first place, and that was exactly what had happened. Well, kind of. Except he was the one in trouble now, not Estonia. As always, he was worried about the wrong person.

Because, yes, including that recipe could be nothing but an act of defiance (small as it may be), and Russia had found out.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Hm, I wonder," he hummed, clearly enjoying every minute of this. "Eat now. Your dinner is getting cold."

While Lithuania obediently choked down his food through his anxiety, he wondered if this was on purpose, too—making it so that he couldn't even enjoy this dish he loved so much. Would Russia take this away from him too?

Was this just another one of Russia's games?

"This is actually pretty good," Russia's voice jerked him out of his thoughts and immediately set them spiraling again.

 _What does he mean by that? Why is he saying this? What is he trying to gain?_

There weren't any answers to be found, but in a strange mercy, Russia gave him something he understood loud and clear.

"Litva. Don't do this again."

* * *

 **Lithuania, you might be a little paranoid (or maybe not).**


End file.
